


Calculated Risks

by SleepyOwl (Indigofingers)



Series: Shots [4]
Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Blood and Injury, Codenames, Dialogue Heavy, Friendship, Gangs, Gen, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, I love hurting my characters, Injury, Partnership, Police, Sarcasm, Whump, Yikes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 05:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17636711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indigofingers/pseuds/SleepyOwl
Summary: Evie partners with Jay and has too little regard for her own safety.





	Calculated Risks

"Are you walking around already? What if you bump into something again? You probably will!" 

"Adam, I'm not your actual kid, remember? In fact, it makes more sense for me to adopt you, given that I have been doing this job longer than you have been doing yours." 

"That's now how that works." 

Evie smiled benevolently and deposited a coffee into Adam's dramatic hands. "Maybe, but I don't care, so I don't think it matters." 

"You're a gem," Adam mumbled reverently into his cup. 

"But what kind? And don't say diamond." 

Antonio reached for his coffee impatiently. "Aren't diamonds the best, though? Wouldn't you want to be a diamond? Rare, sparkly, hard?" 

"Are you saying I'm hard, Tony?" 

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you trapping me in a losing game?" 

"I like opals. They're my birthstone. Or sapphires. They're pretty hard, too." 

"So you wouldn't mind being called hard?" 

Adam put his hands out in protest. "Can this conversation like, stop happening? I'm getting very uncomfortable." 

"Aren't you always," Evie mentioned dryly, perching on the edge of Jay's desk, shoving aside whatever was in her way. 

"Don't do that." 

"I didn't knock anything to the floor this time, so stop whining. Can we get back to the important things? I have a corner meeting with some chickadees in an hour." 

Antonio raised his hand a little, realized the silliness of that, shook his head and put it down again. "So wait, if sparrows are informants, what are chickadees?" 

"Potential sparrows." 

"That's what I thought." Antonio sipped his coffee like he wasn’t proud of himself for thinking that.

Evie tipped her head in his direction. "Very astute. So is anybody going to tell me why I'm here and not meeting you at some crime scene?" 

Voight spoke up from the doorway of his office. "Because they didn't want you scoping it out before we did." 

"They, huh? And exactly what terrible outcomes would occur if I had snooped preemptively? I suppose it doesn't matter, seeing as I already did." 

Jay started. "You snooped on a crime scene, then came here without mentioning it and you were still going to interview potential informants without investigating further?" 

Evie frowned. "Why would I need to? You'd have gotten to it by then and I could've just sent a proxy to check on you guys." 

"Who would you have sent?" Adam wanted to know. 

"Probably Jade." 

"She doesn't have a cool nickname?" 

"He has the nickname 'Jade' because he has striking green eyes." 

"Oh." 

"Mmhmm." Evie knew she could easily let the conversation get sidetracked again and so, to make sure that didn't happen, she pushed herself up off of Jay's desk and cleared her throat. "So are we investigating or what?" 

Adam immediately raised his hand, "I call shotgun." 

Evie rolled her eyes. "You just say that because you want to work up to driving my car." 

"Oh man, you nailed me. Is that a thing that could happen, by the way?" 

"Probably not, but if I'm like, dying or something," Evie shrugged, "it could, I guess." 

"Great." Adam pulled on his jacket and didn't say anything else. 

"Okay! We're moving out!" Evie glanced back over her shoulder to look at Voight. "Right? You do still want me to come to the scene with you?" 

"Let's go," he said in response and everyone followed after him. 

—

Evie hung up and rejoined the group. “Okay, so Olly says that Roke has been seen near the Montorum building and since we know that they have what he wants, it’s logical to assume he’s planning on breaking in tonight. We should break in after him, catch him on scene.”

Voight’s expression didn’t change, but everybody knew what he was thinking anyway. “You’re calling the shots now?”

“No,” Evie said carefully. “I’m suggesting a plan of attack. You don’t have to include me.” She paused, rolling her jaw. “But, of course, I would love to go. Is Adam still out there?”

“He just called,” Atwater said, walking up to them. “Roke is planning on breaking into Montorum tonight to get the files they have on his crew. Adam is supposed to go with them.”

Antonio shifted in place. “It’ll be dark in an hour. Montorum shuts down at nine.”

“I can have Olly meet with Adam so we know what we’re up against.”

“This Olly is reliable?” Voight asked.

Evie’s expression was hard. “If you’re asking whether he’d lie for his old crew, no. He’s loyal to me. I trust him.”

“Fine. Let’s make a plan.“

—

"We need to get these guys before they exist this level," Jay whispered against the back of Evie's head. “The others should be running into Ruzek and Atwater by now.”

"I'm aware of that," she said, shifting her stance a little. "And I have an idea, but I doubt you'll like it." 

"I'm not pulling the fire alarm." 

"What? Would you stop pretending all of my plans are so extreme? No, you're just going to give me your gun." 

"What?" 

"Give me your gun. I can take out Roke." 

"No way." 

Evie turned around in the confined space with some difficulty. "I can take him out, and I can do it faster if I have a gun." 

"Why don't you have a gun?" Jay's surprise was genuine and she understood it. She never went weaponless. 

"I gave it Adam because we didn't have the chance to grab his. And you might hit Roke if you shoot enough times, but I’m a better shot in the dark." 

"I'm not giving you my gun. Just tell me where to aim." 

"There’s no way you’ll be fast enough to him Roke and whoever is with him." Evie said sharply, already so done with this conversation. "We're wasting time. Trust me." 

"Every time I trust you I regret it," Jay said. “Let’s just go.”

Evie inched her way out of their hiding space. "Have it your way. Follow me." 

They crept down the hall past various offices, their doors locked. This building had a surprising lack of windows, Evie was grateful for the lack of city lights creating shadows. She stopped before the corner of the intersecting hallways. Uncertain surroundings always felt more reliable in the dark, where she could play things by ear - literally. 

Her shoes didn't make so much as a squeak as they glided across the tiles. Evie's breathing was even and calm, not hanging on a beat as she waited for her target to start moving. 

There it was, finally, the slight patter of uneven footsteps jogging down a corridor to their right. The exit signs shone small red circles of light on the floor at the end of the hall they stood in, many feet away, but no shadows crossed them. Evie slid along the wall to the next corner and continued to listen. The breathing she heard from further down was odd, like there were two people together. Then someone spoke. 

"I can't see nothing, man." 

"Doesn’t matter." 

“We gotta get out of here.”

“We can’t go back the way we came, the cops are all over it.”

Okay, there were definitely two people there. 

Evie squared her shoulders, not phased. She reached back behind her and Jay touched her arm, letting her know he was still there. She pulled him around her, bringing up his gun hand while pushing them down both of them into a crouching position as their quarry came closer to their location. 

"We never should've let this get so far." The voice held fear. Evie smiled thinly to hear it.

"Shut up." The voice to the left the other swung a little, and Evie knew he'd shoved his companion just enough that he was more exposed. She adjusted Jay’s hand and flattened against the wall as he fired.

The answering bullet fire whizzed past them in three successive shots. Jay had dropped to the floor and fired several more times, successfully. The sound of a second body hitting the floor caused Evie to push herself backwards until she was around the corner again. She heard cursing and bodies fumbling. 

"Get up, man!" 

"I can't, I can't," one voice was rich with pain. 

"Shit! I'm out of here!" 

Evie paused, feeling Jay’s hand on her shoulder asking her if she was okay. She used his own shoulder as leverage and tore down the hallway after the second guy. Her left shoe caught a bit of blood and turned under her, causing her knee to scream a little. It wouldn’t be a proper raid if she came out completely unscathed. Evie ignored the crack in her knee as she straightened and kept running. A sixth sense warned her when the guy was turning around to fire again; she dropped, rolled forward and kicked out, catching his shin. When he fell back, she scrambled forward to deliver choice blows to sensitive areas, including his throat. While the guy choked on his own breath, she found his gun with her foot and kicked it away.

"Told you I could see in the dark," she said into the dark.

"Actually," Jay's voice sounded from somewhere behind her, panting a little, "you just asked if I could. That was very stupid.”

“Really,” Evie deadpanned, squinting as a flashlight suddenly appeared, people appearing along with it. “I thought it was well-calculated on my part.”

Jay flipped their captive over and cuffed him. “This is why it’s hard to trust you. You’re always charging off to do your own thing.”

“No, this is exactly why you can trust me, because you know that when I charge off, I always get the bad guy!” Evie turned away and stumbled. "Oh, come on, behave," she complained at her knee, hitting it a couple times with the side of her fist. "I barely twisted you." 

"You got injured again?" Jay went from being annoyed to being concerned. 

"No," Evie answered. "You know my left knee is grumpy. I just twisted it a tiny bit and it's pretending like it's a big deal." 

Jay didn't look convinced but at least knew better than to question her about it further. "Okay." 

Evie pulled out her phone. "I'm gonna go reclaim my own gun and check in with Olly,” she said tiredly. “I'll see you back at the station, okay?" 

"Yep." Jay's answered always got clipped whenever he didn't believe her about something. Evie didn't have time to deal with his problems with her. She had people to see. 

—

Evie opened her eyes to see the ceiling of her own house. Blinking the sleep away, she took several seconds to think about what had happened that day and why she couldn’t remember coming home. She saw a figure sitting in a chair near the couch.

"Olly?" 

Olly jumped and quickly came over to kneel down next to her. "Hey. You fell asleep at the Roost, so I drove you home. Um, 'the baby blue' and 'blue jay' both texted you asking where you were and I didn't know what to say but um, here." Olly pushed her phone into her hands and Evie murmured her thanks while he dashed from the room. 

The Baby Blue: thanks for the loan earlier   
I thought you said you were gonna show up?   
If you don't text back in the next hour Voight is gonna blow a gasket   
Srg. Platt said you were probably fine but you should still text me   
Or anybody

Blue Jay: you're not here   
Get over here   
I'm just gonna assume you got held up 

Evie rolled her eyes at Adam's persistence and Jay's acceptance of her always being late to things. Granted, this was more of an absence than being late, but still. For all his complaining, Jay actually put a lot more trust in her than he liked to admit. Adam was great, but he hovered. Jay complained, but he let her do her own thing. They both had benefits for a working relationship. She'd never want to be partnered long-term with either of them, but it was good to team up now and then. 

"Evie?" 

"Hmm." 

Olly bit his lip, worriedly. "There's a car outside that has been there for a while." 

"What car?" 

"Silver, sedan, guy keeps smoking." 

"Did you send someone to knock?" 

"Yeah. They said they were waiting for someone." 

"Meaning me." 

Olly fiddled with the strings on his hoodie. 

Evie sighed and rolled off the bed onto her feet. "Come on, let's go see what's up." 

"Are you just gonna walk up to them? What if it's a trap?" 

"Have I taught you nothing? Of course it's a trap!" Evie pulled on her boots and stuck her tracker in the tiny pocket on the inside of the tongue. "No, they'll take a gun. Give me the needles for my jacket." 

"I can't believe you just let yourself get kidnapped all the time. How is your skull still intact?" 

"Not all of them club me over the head, Olly." 

Olly shook his head. "I'm calling your detectives as soon as they take you." 

"Good, that's fine. Make sure they're not too noisy about it. And show them what you showed me earlier. And don't worry," she finished, pointing a finger at him knowingly. "I'll be fine. Just do your job." 

"I got it, mom." Olly ducked his head - not before she saw the uneasy expression on his face - and ran back into the house. 

Evie opened the door and looked across the street at her kidnapper's chariot. "Well, it's not like I was expecting to get a lot of sleep tonight." 

—

"From the top," Voight prompted and Olly swallowed nervously. 

"After we got home, after I took Evie home, I noticed a car across the street that had been there since earlier today and it doesn't belong to anyone on the street. Evie trains us to notice these things," Olly added, twisting his hands. "Anyway, I told her about it and she decided that even though it was definitely a trap, she was going to go find out what they wanted. Apparently they wanted to hit her over the head and take her somewhere." 

"And you don't know where?" Antonio asked. 

"I haven't checked yet. I came to find you guys first and make sure that you did this right." 

"Did this right? What's that mean?" Adam asked next. 

Olly licked his lips. "Evie wanted me to show you this." He pulled a sheaf of paper out of his bag and laid them on the table. "These are the backgrounds of every one of Ambrose's guys. Roke was a small fish. The real problem is her," Olly tapped on one of the pictures, "Cara Sands. She's, uh, she's basically a ninja assassin." 

"For real?" Jay scoffed. 

"For real," Olly nodded vigorously. "She's the real deal, man. And check out her list of aliases." 

"Oh man, I recognize some of these." Antonio ran a hand over his face. "This one, Nicki Alpert, we were after her for two counts of murder but she disappeared completely." 

Olly let them pour over the papers while he set up the GPS to find where Evie was being held. "I've got her. She's just outside city limits - north side. Here," he pointed and let Halstead look at the screen. 

"Is there anything else we should know before going in?" Voight asked. 

Olly didn't take his eyes off the blinking dot on the screen. "If any of you get killed trying to rescue her, Evie will be so pissed. And this isn't a rescue, it's a takedown." He finally met their eyes without flinching. "She got kidnapped on purpose, so make it count." 

"God, you sound just like her," Adam grumbled. "Let's do this!" 

—

Jay laid out his guy with one last punch before making his way over where Evie was slumped over. He eyed the body lying next to her with distaste. "What the hell is in that guy's face?" 

"Needles," Evie replied like it was something totally normal. "You know, like the ones for acupuncture except that these one have a paralytic agent inside." 

Jay grimaced. "Poison?" 

"Non-lethal. I can't believe you got the better of Cara like that. I could tell she was concussed after I got her with my boot, but still. I was kind of looking forward to a good fight after everything." 

"Looks like you've already been in one," Jay commented as he sawed through her bonds. "How much pain are you in?" 

Evie leaned her head against the basement wall and closed her eyes for a moment, opening to find Jay looking at her worriedly. "Did you get all of them?" 

"They're either dead or in cuffs. Besides your face, where did they hit you?" Jay lowered her arms gently, holding her battered wrists with care. "These could easily get infected. We've got to get you to a hospital." 

"You can't let Olly be a part of this, okay? He can't be out in front. We gotta leave him out." 

"I can't promise that, but we'll do our best. Can you stand?" 

Evie gripped Jay's arms as tightly as she could, which was not really at all and let him hoist her upwards. While her vision remained clear, her legs had zero intention of holding her and promptly buckled. "Jay, you don't understand. Olly doesn't exist yet." That didn’t make sense. Evie didn’t know how to make it make sense.

"We'll keep him out of it," Jay said non-convincingly, as he was clearly trying to make her focus. "Did they give you anything? Your eyes are darting back and forth and your pulse is racing." 

Evie laughed. It sounded strange in her ears, like it was a sound that shouldn't be happening given the circumstances. It probably wasn't. She tried to stop and just ended up toppling forward into Jay. 

"Hey, woah, okay, yeah. They definitely gave you something. Was it spice?" 

"They like their girls spicy, what can I say?" 

"Uh huh, you are a mess." Jay adjusted his grip on her as he called out to his team member. "Adam, can you give me a hand?" 

Adam came trotting out of the gloom and immediately attached himself to Evie's left side, helping Jay keep her upright. "She's awfully perky for someone who just got tortured." 

"Torture is a strong word, Adam," Evie scolded, still laughing. "I still have all my fingernails." 

"And none of your wits," Adam retorted as they made their way up the stairs. "Do you think you have a concussion?" 

"Nope." Evie stopped laughing long enough to seem very serious. "My knee hurts, though." 

"Your wonky knee or the other one?" 

"The wonky one." 

"You didn't get shot again, did you?" 

"No." Evie looked down at her knees for a moment, considering. "Just kicked." 

"The paramedics will check you out." Jay ended the conversation by sounding incredibly strained and Adam didn't comment and Evie couldn't comment, so nothing else was said until she was on the gurney in the back of the ambulance. 

"Olly?" 

"He's fine, Evie, don't worry about it." Adam's voice floated to her and she wondered briefly why she was wondering why he was the one to come with her and then she stopped wondering anything after that because the adrenaline wore off and everything started to hurt. A lot. A really, really lot. 

—

“Well, she’s incredibly lucky,” Will prefaced and everything breathed a sigh of relief. “No concussion and the drug they gave her did little to damage her systems, mostly it just made her compliant. She does, however, have a multitude of contusions as well as several larger cuts that required stitches. Somehow she escaped without any broken bones as well, but the bone bruises on her ribs are still nothing to sniff at. Her knee is swollen and the tendons are strained, so I don’t want her walking for at least a week. If she shows up to work before then, I expect all of you to send her home immediately. I know that she’s incredibly hard to force into anything and she’s possibly more stubborn than my brother, but I mean it. Doctor’s orders, do not let her work. And if any of you know of ways to keep her resting for longer, please do so.”

Jay clapped Will on the shoulder and they shared a brotherly nod. Adam sighed into his hands and Kim grinned at Kevin. Voight nodded and left the room, already done with the situation. Antonio approached Will. “Is okay if we go and see her?”

“I’ll be sedating her so she can sleep, so make it quick. She’ll likely be discharged tomorrow as long as there are no complications, so if you need to discuss anything, maybe do it then.”

Antonio nodded and walked down the hall the few steps to Evie’s room. He knocked on the door frame, smiling when Evie looked up. “You’ve got a great kid.”

Evie smiled back as Antonio sat in the chair next to her bed. “Olly was a tricky one. Nobody trusted him after he played double agent too many times, but he never once betrayed me when I didn’t expect it.”

“So, he did betray you, but it was okay because you knew about it?” Antonio asked in disbelief.

“Sure. You gotta go into situations knowing what’s most likely to happen. Olly started to know that I could predict him, so he’d betray me in such a way that it was a heads up. I knew he was learning to trust me and after I successfully bargained him out, we could trust each other implicitly even when we lied. He’s smart, too.”

“Is Olly a nickname or a codename?”

“Both?” Evie suppressed a laugh. “It’s short for Oleander. That’s a poisonous plant. But, it’s useful if you know what you’re doing.”

Antonio nodded slowly. “I get it.” He looked up as a nurse walked in and stood. “I should go and you should get some rest. Who do you want to pick you up tomorrow?”

“I’ll have someone-” Evie stopped. Antonio just looked at her over his folded arms. “Not Adam,” she said finally.

“Okay.” Antonio leaned down to plant a kiss on Evie’s head. “Good night.”

Evie was silent as she watched him leave. The nurse smiled and said, “He cares about you.”

“They all do,” Evie said, sighing into her pillows. “That’s the problem.”


End file.
